Owensboro Health manager reminisces with pride over MLB career

February 23, 2019 | 3:00 am

Updated February 23, 2019 | 7:00 am

Owensboro Health Occupational Medicine Manager Danny Hagan spent three years as a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds. | Photos contributed by Danny Hagan

With spring training in full swing, Danny Hagan can still remember the sights, sounds and smells of the game he loves. Hagan came to Owensboro by way of his wife and now works as the Occupational Medicine Manager for Owensboro Health.

Before suits and lunch meetings, it was baseball pants and bullpen sessions for the Trinity (Louisville) product who spent three seasons in the Cincinnati Reds’ organization. Originally drafted out of high school by the Montreal Expos, Hagan elected to take a college scholarship offer at Jacksonville University (FL) and work towards a college degree, while honing his craft as a left-handed starting pitcher.

Major League Baseball was not done with Danny Hagan following that 1991 phone call from the Expos. In spring of 1993, Hagan was drafted again. This time the offer was too good to pass up, as it was Hagan’s childhood heroes, the Cincinnati Reds, who came calling.

The years that followed that call still serve as some of Hagan’s favorite memories, with spring training 1994 perhaps topping the list. It was then that the once fourth-ranked prospect in the entire Reds organization got his one and only taste of big-league action.

“I got a call from Mike Griffin, then-Reds minor league pitching director,” Hagan said. “He told me they had five games coming up and they wanted me to be available. I ended up pitching in three of those games. The first game was against the Tigers and I struck out Cecil Fielder and pitched two scoreless innings. The second game, also against the Tigers, was going well until Fielder came up again. This time, he deposited my 2-0 fastball about 100 feet over the 360-foot sign in left-center. My final appearance was a scoreless inning against the Astros, and I returned to minor league camp feeling pretty good. In my head, it solidified that I was good enough to compete at the highest level.”

It was his first regular season game out of camp that very same year when the injury occurred. With no outs in the top of the fourth inning, facing future 15-year MLB veteran Magglio Ordonez, Hagan experienced a fateful injury. On a 1-2 count, Hagan hurled a curveball towards the plate. He still remembers the popping sound his elbow made as the ball left his hand, the sound that sunk his season and ultimately his career. Though he attempted a comeback the following spring, Danny Hagan elected to retire in 1996.

“I had met my future wife about a year prior to the injury and I just knew it was time to give the game up,” Hagan said. “When you play any sport at the highest it becomes a very selfish endeavor. Baseball would not share me with anyone. It consumed me.”

Since retiring from baseball, Hagan has married, started a family and experienced the many joys of fatherhood. One of the greatest joys he says is coaching his son’s baseball team at Owensboro High School. Hagan says that joy, without the loving dedication of his wife Sarah and daughter Josie, would not be possible.
As the pitching coach for the Red Devils, Hagan has spent 11 years pouring into young men who share in the very dream he once held dear. To those young men and many others, he offers a bit of advice.

“Whatever you do, just have fun,” Hagan said. “Do not specialize in one sport until you are well into high school. As a coach, we want the athlete. It’s healthier to take a break from your sport. You work different muscles, while others get to rest. Stay away from the game completely for a minimum of six to eight weeks before picking it back up. The body has to rest and rebuild, which will help with career longevity.”

Recently, the former highly-touted Reds prospect received one of his very own baseball cards in the mail.

“It has probably been four to five years since I received anything until one popped up in my mail,” Hagan said. “In an instant I was transported back to those baseball-filled springs so many years ago. The card made me smile with gratitude. I’m sure this is a little biased, but baseball fans are the best. So loyal, so appreciative. I have the fans and my family to thank for such an amazing opportunity to have played the sport that I love on a professional level.”

February 23, 2019 | 3:00 am

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